


King of the Court

by Marks



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different Sports, M/M, TsukkiYama Month, tsukki plays tennis!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-08 19:45:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12871695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marks/pseuds/Marks
Summary: The Akiteru Incident pushes Tsukishima into tennis because it's solitary and doesn't have crushing familial disappointment weighing it down. It's a good decision and he doesn't regret it, even if he loses sharing a sport with Yamaguchi in the process.What's surprising, though, is that he doesn't lose Yamaguchi's friendship: "I like volleyball," Yamaguchi had said back in elementary and Tsukishima wistfully thought,Well, it was nice having a friend for a little while. But then Yamaguchi continued, "And I like Tsukki, too! I'll cheer you on at tennis."





	King of the Court

**Author's Note:**

> Tsukki would look so good playing tennis, don't even pretend like he wouldn't.
> 
> Written for Tsukkiyama Month's Day 17 prompt, Different Sports. Yamaguchi keeps playing volleyball, Tsukishima doesn't. They're still them.
> 
> Comments and kudos always appreciated!! I can't believe I let another one of these prompts get out of hand!

The Akiteru Incident pushes Tsukishima into tennis because it's solitary and doesn't have crushing familial disappointment weighing it down. It's a good decision and he doesn't regret it, even if he loses sharing a sport with Yamaguchi in the process. 

What's surprising, though, is that he doesn't lose Yamaguchi's friendship: "I like volleyball," Yamaguchi had said back in elementary and Tsukishima wistfully thought, _Well, it was nice having a friend for a little while_. But then Yamaguchi continued, "And I like Tsukki, too! I'll cheer you on at tennis."

Yamaguchi becomes such a permanent fixture at their middle school tennis matches that when they're in second year the new first-years assume he's the manager. They make Yamaguchi go bright red when they ask him for training menus. 

That's the first time Tsukishima and Yamaguchi's eyes meet across the court and Tsukishima thinks, _Cute_ , but – unfortunately – it's far from the last. 

Tsukishima's always been tall and athletic and good at strategizing, and he finds his detached ideas about school sports being just clubs receding to the back of his mind without the direct comparison to his brother. He likes the feel of a racket in his hand, of putting the right spin on the ball to stymie his opponent. He tries hard and he gets good. Really good.

Halfway through his second year in middle school, he has the best record on his team and his coach promotes him to Singles 1. Yamaguchi buys Tsukishima a lemonade to celebrate and invites him to one of his volleyball games.

Tsukishima turns him down.

"Okay, Tsukki!" Yamaguchi says brightly, but he fiddles with his napkin and goes home right after he finishes his drink, which isn't like him. As Tsukishima watches Yamaguchi walk away without looking back, he grips the front of his shirt, like he's trying to keep his heart inside.

* 

In his third year, Tsukishima starts hearing whispers every time he steps up to play: _Monster. Unstoppable. King of the Court._ They mean it as a good thing and a bad thing, and Tsukishima doesn't know which option he likes more. His coach tells him he's nationally ranked now, and when he passes that news onto Yamaguchi, he starts panicking because Yamaguchi nearly hyperventilates. He gets scouted by every high school with a halfway decent tennis team, even a couple of powerhouses from other prefectures, ones with state-of-the-art facilities and full scholarships to cover all his expenses.

"I bet you'll like Tokyo," Yamaguchi says one day out of the blue as they're headed toward their shoe lockers. "I went there with my parents a few years ago and it was so neat! And there will be lots of strong schools you can play against."

Tsukishima wrinkles up his forehead. "When am I going to Tokyo?"

Yamaguchi swallows, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down; Tsukishima's eyes flick back up to Yamaguchi's face as he pretends not to notice. "For high school," Yamaguchi says, just the corners of his mouth turning down. Tsukishima knows that means he's sad but struggling not to show it. "All those scouts…" he adds and trails off.

"I'm not going to school in Tokyo," Tsukishima says. "I'm going to Karasuno."

Yamaguchi blinks, startled. "You are?" Then the sad corners of his mouth lift again, slowly growing into a brilliant smile. Then: "Why?"

Tsukishima's face heats up against his will. "Well, that's where you're going, right?"

"Yeah!" Yamaguchi shouts, startling two girls standing nearby. If he's noticed Tsukishima's embarrassed, he hasn't mentioned it. "How's their tennis team?"

"Good," Tsukishima assures him. "But they're about to get better." He smirks and straightens up to his full height.

Yamaguchi's eyes get really wide and he swallows again, hard. His cheeks go red and he quickly looks away from Tsukishima, but Tsukishima can't figure out why.

*

Tsukishima hates Kageyama Tobio. Hates him with every fiber of his being, how his talent has raised the hopes of the entire Karasuno volleyball team, how his quick with some shorty is all Yamaguchi can talk about these days. Having the only other first years on the volleyball team make the starting lineup without him has sparked something new inside Yamaguchi, the likes of which Tsukishima has never seen from him before.

Yamaguchi meets someone at a practice match who can do jump float serves and sees a way in. He spends all his free time practicing volleyball and it's two days before Tsukishima finds a moment in person where he can tell Yamaguchi that he'll be starting at Singles 3 for his first high school tennis match, the only first-year with a regulars' spot. 

The fire lit under Yamaguchi is stoked higher with every extra serve practice and volleyball tournament, and he trembles and shakes with it, a teapot about to shout as it boils over. Tsukishima hates it. He also likes it so, so much, loves the determination and drive now apparent behind every one of Yamaguchi's freckles. Tsukishima has nowhere to put all these conflicting feelings now that he's aware of them, so he funnels them all into a white-hot hatred of Kageyama Tobio, the genius player who accidentally set off this cataclysmic event, even though Tsukishima's never even seen the guy, let alone talked to him. 

One day, Yamaguchi laughs out of nowhere, his eyes squinting closed because he's laughing so hard. "Did you know that in middle school they called Kageyama ‘King of the Court,' too?"

Tsukishima sees red.

*

“Hey, asshole.” Some angry kid with black hair and blue eyes shoves Tsukishima in the hallway one day. He's tall, but Tsukishima's even taller. "How come you never come to our games?"

A shrimpy redheaded kid runs up next to him and pipes in, "Yeah!"

"Who the hell are you?" Tsukishima asks, even though after that he already knows. 

"Cut the crap," angry tall says.

"You're hurting Yamaguchi's feelings!" not-as-angry small adds. "He really wants you there."

Tsukishima narrows his eyes. "Then why has he never asked me to go to one of your dumb games?" 

He hates it when people assume they know Yamaguchi better than he does, even when in this case he suspects they're right. A memory – not forgotten, repressed – bubbles up. Tsukishima's eyes meet his brother's across the gym, only it's not Akiteru, it's Yamaguchi having his heart broken because he's put in so much effort and it's gone nowhere. Tsukishima grabs his own chest in anticipation of seeing that heartbreak.

"How many tennis matches has he gone to for you?" Shrimpy asks. "I bet," he continues, and his voice gets louder, more confident, and it's _so annoying_ , "he asked you to a game once a hundred years ago and you said no."

Tsukishima's mouth twists up unhappily because it's the truth.

"His serves are good," angry tall – god, fine, _Kageyama_ – says. He straightens up and lifts his chin, and Tsukishima sees that King of the Court thing is the real deal. Then, after a second, he's back to that resting angry face again. "They used to suck."

"Oi," Shrimpy and Tsukishima say together.

Kageyama continues, “But now he'll play because we can't get to Nationals without him. Come watch.” 

A flare of something spreads through Tsukishima's chest, making him warm all over. His mind is already made up, but it's not like he can give these idiots the satisfaction of knowing that. "I'll think about it," he says and walks off, ignoring the shouts of the dumb echoing behind him.

*

Tsukishima arrives toward the end of the first set. Karasuno's volleyball team is smaller than when Akiteru was in school, but Tsukishima can already tell they're strong. Stupid Kageyama Tobio lives up to every word Yamaguchi has babbled about him and more, and Tsukishima has to cover up his gasp with a cough when he sees the redhead shrimp jump for the first time.

Yamaguchi thankfully isn't up in the stands – the team is too small for that – but he is on the sidelines and not playing. Tsukishima begins to frown, but then Yamaguchi's coach calls him over. Yamaguchi grabs a paddle and trades with a second-year middle blocker. He's shaking all over from nerves, visible even from where Tsukishima is sitting, his knees nearly knocking together as he walks out onto the court. 

Tsukishima sees a flipbook of potential failures play out in front of his eyes, and Tsukishima, who's never been one for sentimentality or emotion, suddenly knows with everything that he has – every breath, every heartbeat, every atom that makes up his entire self – that he can't let that happen. He inhales.

"Nice serve, Tadashi!" he screams, so loud that two guys in Karasuno-orange robes swivel around and stare at him. On the court, Yamaguchi's shoulders tense suddenly and then he looks up. Tsukishima holds out a fist to him and Yamaguchi immediately relaxes, nodding with determination as his face splits into a huge grin. His serves rack up five points for Karasuno and Tsukishima possibly feels more pride than he's ever felt after winning one of his tennis matches.

He had no idea he even needed pride.

*

Yamaguchi drags Tsukishima along to Karasuno's victory celebration, ignoring his protests of, "I'm not even on the team."

"Yeah, but I want you there," Yamaguchi says and gives him a shy smile. For a split-second, Tsukishima's heart feels like it stops.

"Why don't you play volleyball?" Yamaguchi's coach demands, staring up at Tsukishima before they all sit down for dinner. "All that height wasted."

"I used to," Tsukishima admits.

"You want to again?"

Tsukishima laughs. "No," he says. "I'll leave that to Yamaguchi. Besides, my coach would kill you."

"Tsukki's on the tennis team. He's the only first year regular and he's nationally ranked!" Yamaguchi announces eagerly to anyone who will listen. Tsukishima wants to crawl under the table and die, but settles for just sitting next to Yamaguchi, who pats his knee sweetly once they're settled.

"The tennis team is nationally ranked?" Kageyama asks from Yamaguchi's other side, sounding impressed but mad about it. 

"No," Tsukishima corrects. " _I'm_ nationally ranked. The team isn't. Yet.”

Kageyama snorts. "Get back to me when your team wins Nationals."

"Sure, I'll do that right after you guys do."

"Enough,” says Yamaguchi. He puts up his hands and pushes both of their faces away and out, making Kageyama grumble and Tsukishima realize that Yamaguchi's palm is touching his mouth. Yamaguchi pulls his hands away and grins at Tsukishima. ”Tsukki, how did I do?"

Tsukishima shrugs. "Okay, I guess."

Across the table, Shrimpy – Hinata – lets out a mournful wail. "Yamaguchi, how do you stand this guy?"

Yamaguchi blinks, confused. "Uh, he's great?" he says easily, and Tsukishima's face heats up. He buys Yamaguchi a lemonade.

Later that night, as they walk home together, Tsukishima clears his throat. "I'm sorry, Yamaguchi."

"For what?" Yamaguchi seems genuinely confused.

"For taking so long to come to one of your matches," he says. "You've always been so supportive and I— I wasn't."

"I know," Yamaguchi says quietly. "I get it. But it wasn't really about me."

"It wasn't, but then it was," Tsukishima says. "I didn't want to see you wind up hurt like my brother. But that was still stupid. I should know by now you can do whatever you set out to do, and Akiteru wasn't that broken by what happened to him." He sighs. "Maybe I'm the one who's broken."

Yamaguchi leaps in front of Tsukishima, making him stutter to a stop, so suddenly close to Yamaguchi that he gets dizzy with proximity. "You're not broken," Yamaguchi says with steely resolve, poking him in the chest. "Neither am I. Got it?"

Tsukishima lets out a shaky breath. "When did you get so cool?"

"Me?" Yamaguchi squeaks. His finger is frozen on Tsukishima's chest. "Stop teasing, Tsukki!"

"I'm not," Tsukishima says and tugs Yamaguchi's hand down by his side. “Your serves were perfect,” he continues and squeezes Yamaguchi’s hand once. He doesn't let go afterward. Neither of them do.

From that point on, Tsukishima goes to every volleyball game he can, and Yamaguchi keeps going to every tennis match that he can. And in their second year, the first years think Yamaguchi's the tennis manager again, making him turn bright red again, but this time Tsukishima kisses him until he stops feeling bad about it.


End file.
